Why do Texas politicians load their campaign ads with so much rural imagery? The ads are full of pastures, cows, ranchers, mountains, sometimes the Palo Duro canyon. Cornyn is particularly fond of cows.
It isn't just Cornyn, though. Virtually every Texas ad uses rural imagery.
Why? Texas is an urban state. 71% of the population lives in an urbanized area. The average Texan lives at a density of over 3,000 ppsm. Nearly 15 million people live in the Houston, Dallas, San Antonio or Austin metropolitan areas alone. Most of us rarely encounter (live) cows; even fewer of us work on ranches or at farm equipment stores.
But these ads must be targeting urban/suburban residents -- it is a waste of money for either liberals or conservatives to target rural votes because they are much more likely to be conservative than the average city-dwelling Texan.
I don't think politicians are stupid; they must have good evidence that rural imagery works. What I don't understand is why so many urban-dwelling Texans identify themselves with a lifestyle their families abandoned generations ago.
